Don’t go to Gjirokaster. You’ve never heard of it anyway, and who would want to give up a couple of weeks of their precious annual leave on a mountainous city in Albania? It’s impossible to get to, anyway – the only nonstop UK flights go from London to Tirana, and Tirana to Gjirokaster is a four-hour drive at best and a 12-hour drive at worst, using an unreliable public transport system and often impassable roads.
Of course, if you looked at where Gjirokaster was situated, just behind the seaside town of Sarande on Albania’s southern coast, then you might realise it’s so close to Corfu that you can see the Greek island from Sarande’s shore. And then you might find out that there’s actually a cheap ferry you can take from Corfu to Sarande, which departs three times a day each way, and only takes 30 minutes – but that sounds like too much of a fuss for a holiday.
Definitely don’t go to Gjirokaster. No one speaks English, for a start. You’ll probably have to spend a few hours sitting on the beach with a meal cheaper than the one you had in Corfu that morning, or paddling in the same, crystal-clear Ionian Sea before you can even work out how to get to your next destination.
The 10 best under-the-radar European cities, from Malmö to Tallinn
Show all 10
And then you’ll have to schlep along the road until you find a minibus where the driver agrees a price and a destination with you ad hoc. Rather than the Megabus or the National Express, which turns up reliably on time with a destination…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at The Independent Travel…